Editing Jacques Necker

{{short description|French statesman (1732–1804)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name             = Jacques Necker
| office           = [[Prime Minister of France|Chief Minister of the French Monarch]]
| image            = Necker, Jacques - Duplessis.jpg
| caption          = Portrait by [[Joseph Duplessis]], c. 1781
| monarch          = [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]
| predecessor      = [[Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil|Baron of Breteuil]]
| successor        = [[Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin|Count of Montmorin]]
| monarch2         = [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]
| office2          = [[Controller-General of Finances]]
| predecessor2     = [[Charles Alexandre de Calonne]]
| monarch1         = [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]
| office3          = Director-General of the Royal Treasury
| predecessor1     = [[Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne|Archbishop de Brienne]]
| successor1       = [[Louis Auguste Le Tonnelier de Breteuil|Baron of Breteuil]]
| successor2       = [[Joseph Foullon de Doué]]
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1732|9|30|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Geneva]], [[Republic of Geneva]]
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1804|4|9|1732|9|30|df=y}}
| death_place      = Geneva, [[Léman (department)|Léman]], [[French Consulate|France]]
| spouse           = {{Marriage|[[Suzanne Curchod]]|1764|1794|end=died}}
| children         = [[Germaine de Staël|Germaine Necker]]
| term_start       = 16 July 1789
| term_end         = 3 September 1790
| term_start1      = 25 August 1788
| term_end1        = 11 July 1789
| term_start2      = 25 August 1788
| term_end2        = 11 July 1789
| monarch3         = [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]
| term_start3      = 29 June 1777
| term_end3        = 19 May 1781
| predecessor3     = Louis Gabriel Taboureau des Réaux
| successor3       = [[Jean-François Joly de Fleury]]
| signature        = Signatur Jacques Necker.PNG
}}

'''Jacques Necker''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒak nɛkɛʁ|lang}}; 30 September 1732 – 9 April 1804) was a [[Republic of Geneva|Genevan]] banker and statesman who served as [[List of Finance Ministers of France|finance minister]] for [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]]. He was a reformer, but his innovations sometimes caused great discontent. Necker was a [[constitutional monarchist]], a [[political economist]], and a [[Morality|moralist]], who wrote a severe critique of the new principle of [[equality before the law]].<ref name="Craiutu1">{{Cite conference |last=Craiutu |first=Aurelian |date=2018-03-19 |title=A Voice of Moderation in the Age of Revolutions: Jacques Necker's Reflections on Executive Power in Modern Society |url=https://ostromworkshop.indiana.edu/pdf/seriespapers/2018spr-colloq/craiutu-paper.pdf |conference=Ostrum Workshop Spring 2018 Colloquium |pages=6}}</ref>

Necker initially held the finance post between July 1777 and 1781.<ref name="Kropotkin1">{{cite book | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793 | chapter=Chapter 5 | author=Peter Kropotkin | year=1909 | translator=N.F. Dryhurst | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=217}}</ref> In 1781, he earned widespread recognition for his unprecedented decision to publish the [[Compte rendu]] – thus making the country's budget public – "a novelty in an [[absolute monarchy]] where the state of finances had always been kept a secret."<ref name="Craiutu2">{{Cite book |last=de Staël |first=Germaine |title=Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolutions |date=2008 |publisher=Liberty Fund |isbn=9780865977327 |editor-last=Craiutu |editor-first=Aurelian |pages=viii |chapter=Introduction |id={{ProQuest|<!-- insert ProQuest data here --> }}}}</ref> Necker was dismissed within a few months.<!--This account on the king was critical in creating political and social conditions that contributed to the outbreak of the [[French Revolution]] in 1789.--> By 1788, the inexorable compounding of interest on the national debt brought France to a fiscal crisis.<ref name="Sargent">{{Cite journal |last1=Sargent |first1=Thomas J. |author-link=Thomas J. Sargent |last2=Velde |first2=Francois R. |date=June 1995 |title=Macroeconomic Features of the French Revolution |url=http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/SargentVeldeJPE1995.pdf |journal=The Journal of Political Economy |volume=103 |issue=3 |pages=481|doi=10.1086/261992 }}</ref> Necker was recalled to royal service. His dismissal on 11 July 1789 was a factor in causing the [[Storming of the Bastille]]. Within two days, Necker was recalled by the king and the assembly. Necker entered France in triumph and tried to accelerate the [[tax reform]] process. Faced with the opposition of the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|Constituent Assembly]], he resigned in September 1790 to a reaction of general indifference.

==Early life and career==

Necker was born on 30 September 1732 in Geneva to Karl Friedrich Necker and Jeanne-Marie Gautier.<ref name="HDS1">{{HDS|15905}}</ref> His father was a lawyer from Küstrin in [[Neumark]], [[Prussia]] (now [[Kostrzyn nad Odrą]], [[Poland]]). After publishing some works, Karl Friedrich was appointed professor of [[public law]] at the [[University of Geneva|Academy of Geneva]] in 1725, and later served in the city's [[Council of Two Hundred]].<ref name="HDS2">{{HDS|25543|Necker|author=Jean de Senarclens}}</ref> After studying at the Academy of Geneva, Necker moved to [[Paris]] in 1748 and became a clerk in the bank of Isaac Vernet and [[Peter Thellusson]].<ref name="HDS1" /> Soon after, he managed to learn Dutch and English. One day, he replaced the first clerk in charge of trading on the stock exchange, and through a sequence of trades, he made a quick profit of half a million [[French livre]]s.<ref name="Brewster">{{Cite book |last=Brewster |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKVmdlsm-ecC |title=The Edinburgh Encyclopedia |publisher=William Blackwood |year=1830 |volume=15 |pages=316–320 |chapter=Necker, Jacques Baron de}}</ref> In 1762, Vernet retired and Necker became a partner in the bank with [[Georges-Tobie de Thellusson]] (1728–1776) ([[Isaac de Thellusson]]'s son) who managed the bank in [[London]], while Necker served as his managing partner in Paris. In 1763, before the end of the [[Seven Years' War]], he successfully speculated in British [[debenture]]s or bonds, wheat, and possibly some shares, which he sold at a good profit in the next few years.<ref name="Zeitgenossen1">''Zeitgenossen. Biographieen und Charakteristiken'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=SxItAvsJ0b8C&pg=PA70 p. 72]</ref> <!--Soon, he co-founded the bank of Thellusson, Necker et Compagnie with another Genevese, Thellusson (also known as Pierre Thellusson) .-->

[[File:Duplessis - Suzanne Curchod, Madame Necker.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Suzanne Curchod]], Necker's wife]]
[[File:Carmontelle - Germaine Necker.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Germaine Necker by [[Carmontelle]]]]

Necker had fallen in love with Madame de Verménou, the widow of a French officer. When she went to see [[Théodore Tronchin]], she met [[Suzanne Curchod]]. In 1764, Madame de Verménou brought Curchod to Paris as a companion for Thelusson's children. Suzanne was engaged to British historian [[Edward Gibbon]], but he was forced to break the engagement. Necker transferred his love from the wealthy widow to the ambitious Swiss governess; they married that year. In 1766, they moved to Rue de Cléry and had a daughter, Anne Louise Germaine, who grew to become the famed author and ''salonnière'' [[Germaine de Staël|Madame de Staël]].

Madame Necker encouraged her husband to try to find himself a public position. He, accordingly, became a syndic, or director, of the [[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East India Company]], around which a fierce political debate revolved in the 1760s between the company's directors and shareholders and the royal ministry over its administration and the company's autonomy.<ref name="Lüthy">{{Cite journal |last=Lüthy |first=Herbert |date=1960 |title=Necker et la Compagnie des Indes |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ahess_0395-2649_1960_num_15_5_420657 |journal=Annales |language=French |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=852–881 |doi=10.3406/ahess.1960.420657 |via=Persée}}</ref> After showing his financial ability in its management, Necker defended the company's autonomy in an able memoir against the attacks of Morellet in 1769.<ref name="Morellet">''Réponse au Mémoire de M. l'Abbé Morellet, sur la Compagnie des Indes''</ref> As the company never made any profit during its existence, the monopoly ended.<ref name="Gordon">{{Cite book |last=Gordon |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZ0rDgAAQBAJ |title=Citizens without Sovereignty: Equality and Sociability in French Thought, 1670–1789 |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1400887378 |location=Princeton, N.J. |pages=197}}</ref> The era of free trade had begun.<ref name="Keber">{{Cite book |last=Keber |first=Martha L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-mRz5alH0GYC |title=Seas of Gold, Seas of Cotton: Christophe Poulain DuBignon of Jekyll Island |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=2002 |isbn=0820323608 |location=Athens |pages=68}}</ref> Necker bought up the company's ships and stock of unsold goods when it went bankrupt in 1769.

[[File:Corbel010 Vue du château de Madrid, dessiné sur le chemin venant de Neuilly-sur-Seine.jpg|thumb|[[Château de Madrid]], Necker's home in [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]] ]]

From 1768 to 1776, he made loans to the French government in the form of [[Life annuity|life annuities]] and by lottery operations.<ref name="De Lapouge">{{Cite book |last=de Lapouge |first=Claude Vacher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sL0rDwAAQBAJ |title=Necker économiste |date=2016 |publisher=BnF-P |isbn=9782346082223 |pages=48}}</ref>{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=23}} His wife made him give up his share in the bank, which he transferred to his brother [[Louis Necker]] and Jean Girardot in 1772. In 1773, Necker won the prize of the [[Académie Française]] for a defense of [[state corporatism]] framed as an [[eulogy]] in honor of Louis XIV's minister [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]]. Necker's capital amounted to six or eight million livres, and he used [[Château de Madrid]] as a summer house. In 1775, in ''Essai sur la législation et le commerce des grains'', he attacked the [[physiocracy|physiocrats]], like [[Ferdinando Galiani]], and questioned the [[laissez-faire]] policies of [[Anne Robert Jacques Turgot|Turgot]], the [[Controller-General of Finances]]. Turgot had made too many enemies; in May 1776, he was dismissed. But his successor, Clugny de Nuis, died in October.{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|p=865}}{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=22}} Therefore, on 22 October 1776, on the recommendation of [[Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas|Maurepas]], Necker was appointed "''Directeur du trésor royal''". (As a Protestant, Necker could not serve as Controller.)<ref name="Erenow">[https://erenow.com/modern/rousseau-revolution-a-history-of-civilization-in-france-england-and-germany-from-1756-and-in-the-remainder-of-europe-from-1715-1789/218.html Necker's First Ministry: 1776–81]{{Dead link|date=April 2024}}</ref> <!--His brother took over his post as resident.-->

==Finance Minister of France==
[[File:Necker, Jacques, par Boillet, BNF Gallica.jpg|thumb| ]]

On 29 June 1777, according to his daughter in her "Vie privée de Mr Necker" he was made director-general of the royal treasury and not [[Controller-General of Finance]] which was impossible because of his Protestant faith.<ref name="Privatleben">{{Cite book |last=Necker |first=Jacques |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hig6AAAAcAAJ |title=Neckers Charakter und Privatleben |publisher=Stiller |year=1806 |location=Leipzig |language=German}}</ref>{{rp|32}}{{sfn|Schama|1989|p=94}} Necker refused a salary, but he was not admitted to the [[Conseil du Roi|Royal Council]]. He gained popularity through regulating the government's finances by attempting to divide the ''[[taille]]'' and the [[Tax per head|capitation tax]] more equally, abolishing a tax known as the ''vingtième d'industrie'', (a [[value-added tax]]) and establishing ''[[Mount of piety|monts de piété]]'' (pawnshop-like establishments for loaning money on security). Necker tried through careful reforms (abolition of pensions, [[mortmain]], [[droit de suite]] and more [[Equity (economics)|fair taxation]]) to rehabilitate the disorganized state budget. He abolished over five hundred [[sinecures]] and superfluous posts.{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|pp=866–867}} Together with his wife, he visited and improved life in hospitals and prisons. In April 1778 he remitted 2.4 million livres from his own fortune to the royal treasury.{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|pp=154–155}}<ref name="Sur l'administration">''Sur l'administration de M. Necker'', p. 365</ref> <!--By organizing pawnshops, the poor were able to borrow money at low interest.--> Unlike Turgot – in his ''Mémoire sur les municipalités'' – Necker tried to install [[States Provincial (France)|provincial assemblies]] and hoped they could serve as an effective means of reforming the [[Ancien régime]]. Necker succeeded only in [[Berry, France|Berry]] and [[Guyenne|Haute-Guyenne]], where he installed assemblies with an equal number of members from the [[Estates of the Realm#Third Estate|Third Estate]].

His greatest financial measures were his use of loans to help fund the French debt and his use of high [[interest rate]]s rather than raising taxes.{{sfn|Swanson|Trout|1990|p=424}} The collection of [[indirect taxes]] was restored to the [[Ferme générale|farmers-general]] (1780), but Necker reduced their number by a third and subjected them to sharper scrutiny and control.{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|pp=866–867}} In September 1780, Necker asked for his dismissal, but the King refused to let him go.<ref name="Bredin">{{Cite journal |last=Bredin |first=Jean-Denis |title=Necker, La France et la Gloire |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9766891m/f1n300.pdf?download=1 |format=PDF |journal=Cahiers Staëlians |language=French |volume=55 |pages=15 |via=BNF}}</ref>

===Compte rendu au roi (Report to the King)===
[[File:Lombards Library 010.jpg|thumb| ]] [[File:Jean-Michel Moreau, Le festin royal, 1782, NGA 2791.jpg|thumb|[[Jean-Michel Moreau]], Le festin royal, 1782, NGA 2791]]

By 1781, France was suffering financially, and, as director-general of the royal treasury, he was blamed for the rather high debt accrued from the [[American Revolution]].<ref name="Taylor">Taylor, George. Review of ''Jacques Necker: Reform Statesman of the Ancien Regime,'' by Robert D. Harris. ''Journal of Economic History'' 40, no. 4 (1980): 877–879. {{doi|10.1017/s0022050700100518}}</ref> A series of pamphlets appeared, criticizing Necker.<ref name="Duprat">{{Cite journal |last=Duprat |first=Annie |date=July 2010 |title=Léonard Burnand, Les pamphlets contre Necker. Médias et imaginaire politique au xviiie siècle |url=https://journals.openedition.org/ahrf/11742 |journal=Annales historiques de la Révolution française |language=French |volume=361 |issue=361 |pages=206–208 |doi=10.4000/ahrf.11742 |via=OpenEdition}}</ref> Jacques-Mathieu Augeard attacked him on his foreign origin, his faith, and economic choices.<ref name="Duprat" /> The main reason behind this was the action of Necker "cooking the books" or falsifying the records.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|pp=24–25}}<ref name="Taylor"/> He brightened the picture by excluding military outlays and other 'extraordinary' charges ([[Menus-Plaisirs du Roi]]) and ignoring the national debt.{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|p=870}}{{sfn|Schama|1989|pp=92–93}} Both Necker and Calonne were deceived with the number of pensions and gratifications.<ref name="Page">{{Cite book |last=Page |first=Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TshDAAAAYAAJ |title=Secret History of the French Revolution, From the Convocation of the Notables in 1787 to the First of November, 1796 |publisher=T.N. Longman |year=1797 |volume=1 |location=London |pages=271–273}}</ref> The king spent much more on his brothers than on public health. After Necker had shown Louis XVI his annual report, the king tried to keep its contents secret. Necker met the challenge aggressively by asking the King to bring him into the royal council. In revenge, Necker made the ''[[Compte rendu|Compte rendu au roi]]'' public; in no time between 200,000 copies were sold.<ref name="Brewster"/> It was rapidly translated into Dutch, German, Danish, Italian and English.

In his most influential work, which brought him instant fame, Necker summarized governmental income and expenditures to provide the first record of royal finances ever made public. The Account was meant to be an educational piece for the people, and in it, he expressed his desire to create a well-informed, interested populace.{{sfn|Schama|1989|p=95}} Before, the people had never considered governmental income and expenditure to be their concern, but the ''Compte rendu'' made them more proactive.

Maurepas became jealous, and [[Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes|Vergennes]] called him a revolutionist. Necker declared that he would resign unless given the full title and authority of a minister, with a seat on the [[Conseil du Roi]]. Both Maurepas and Vergennes replied that they would resign if this was done.{{sfn|Schama|1989|p=93}} When Necker was dismissed on 19 May 1781, people of all stations flocked to his home at St. Ouen. In August 1781 Madame Necker went as far as [[Utrecht]] to buy the [[libels]] that appeared in the name of Turgot against her husband. She even tried to have the booksellers arrested.<ref name="Utrecht">{{Cite book |last=van Utrecht |first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1NaAAAAcAAJ |title=Tweede briev van Jan van Utrecht, over het voorgevallene met twee boekverkopers, tot beter verstand van het so genaamd Echt relaas |publisher=H. Keyzer, F.H. Demter, D. Schuurman |year=1781 |pages=54 |language=Dutch}}</ref><ref name="Duprat" /><ref name="Venturi">{{Cite book |last=Venturi |first=Franco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vScABAAAQBAJ |title=The End of the Old Regime in Europe, 1776–1789 |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |volume=1 |location=Princeton, N.J. |pages=348|isbn=978-1-4008-6190-3 }}</ref> <!--Did Necker and his brother receive annually 8 million livres as a pension?{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|p=204}} (This figure is not very reliable, as it would mean they received as much as the king spent on his brothers? The French Marxist historian [[Albert Soboul]] gives more details.{{cn|date=November 2018}})-->

After his dismissal, Necker bought an estate in [[Coppet]]. His brother Louis purchased an estate in [[Cologny]]. Both estates were located near [[Lake Geneva]]. In retirement, Necker, believing in "credible policy", occupied himself with law and economics, producing his famous ''Traité de l'administration des finances de la France'' (1784). Calonne tried to prevent the distribution of the book in Paris.<ref name="Zeitgenossen2">[https://books.google.com/books?id=F1wDAAAAYAAJ&dq=Jacques+Necker+Saint+Ouen+sur+Seine&pg=RA4-PA3 Zeitgenossen: Biograhien und Charakteristiken, Ausgaben 1–4, p. 6]</ref> Never had a work on such a serious subject obtained such general success; 80,000 copies were sold.{{sfn|de Staël|1818}} <!--Because of difference in the ''[[gabelle]]'' salt was smuggled all over the country. Necker reported that a minot of salt, which was 49 kilograms (107.8 pounds) cost only 31 sous in Brittany, but 81 in Poitou, 591 in Anjou, and 611 in Berry.<ref name="Kurlansky">{{cite book |last= Kurlansky |first= Mark |date= 2002 |title= Salt |publisher= Penguin Group |page= 231 |isbn=0-8027-1373-4}}</ref> Each year about 3,000 citizens (men, women, and children) were being imprisoned, sent to the galleys, or put to death for crimes against the gabelle. All the while, religious persons, nobility, and high-ranking officials were often exempt from the gabelle or paid much lower taxes. -->

=== Second term as Controller-General ===
The Necker family returned to the Paris region, supposing they were present at the wedding of their only daughter [[Germaine de Staël|Germaine]] in January 1786. The impending [[national bankruptcy]] of France caused [[Charles Alexandre de Calonne|Calonne]] to convene an [[Assembly of notables]] under the elimination of [[parlement]]s in order to enforce tax reforms. It had not met since 1626. One could not issue new loans without the Parlements' approval.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=25}} In his speech, Calonne expressed doubts about Necker's statistics in the ''Compte rendu''. According to him, they were false and misleading,<ref name="Felix">{{Cite book |last=Félix |first=Joël |title=The Crisis of the Absolute Monarchy: France from Old Regime to Revolution |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |editor-last=Swann |editor-first=Julian |pages=107–126 |chapter=The Problem with Necker's Compte Rendu au roi (1781) |doi=10.5871/bacad/9780197265383.003.0006 |isbn=978-0-19-726538-3 |editor-last2=Félix |editor-first2=Joël |via=Oxford Academic}}</ref><ref name="Soll">{{Cite journal |last=Soll |first=Jacob |date=2016 |title=From Virtue to Surplus: Jacques Necker's Compte Rendu (1781) and the Origins of Modern Political Discourse |url=https://www.academia.edu/25163810 |journal=Representations |volume=134 |pages=29–63 |doi=10.1525/rep.2016.134.1.29 |via=Academia.edu}}]</ref><!--Necker wanted to show France in a strong financial position when the reality was much worse. He hid the crippling interest payments that France had to make on its massive 520 million livres in loans (largely used to finance the war in America) as a normal expenditure. When he was criticized by his successor [[Calonne]] for the ''Compte rendu'', he made public his "Financial Summary for the King", which appeared to show that France had fought the war in America, paid no new taxes, and still had a massive credit of 10 million livres of revenue.{{clarification needed}}--> as the state revenues had been revised upwards. For Calonne, the French deficit was caused by Necker, who had not raised the taxes. However, Calonne got involved in several financial scandals regarding the "Calonne Company" and was dismissed by the king on 8 April 1787.<ref name="FEIC">[https://docviewer.yandex.com/view/586742941/?*=1RTs2RhBWOX%2F7%2FNv0Sc64lyATH97InVybCI6InlhLWJyb3dzZXI6Ly80RFQxdVhFUFJySlJYbFVGb2V3cnVCQlFMX1JYbDVtNV81Y1NlWFBMbnFGZ1dkazkyallNQkRWZkZIRUtPRjlvX0lfVGRRTzRsdHU2LU5ocWFBYXF2c2xiaXZ2RUMxbTB5RGdaWGVZOWpERFcwekFuTTF3SnlQMmZDVzBBdnNsUy1oNHdnazJkMGRMZkthT09ONVA0QVE9PT9zaWduPS0yU0hMSm5IRFBWdmRENWlfMks4X2NCUkdzbTRfQTMzUGQxVFh0U1hkdnc9IiwidGl0bGUiOiJjb21wYWduaWVfZGVzX2luZGVzLmRvYyIsInVpZCI6IjU4Njc0Mjk0MSIsInl1IjoiODc2MjI0NDA2MTUzNjkyMjc5NyIsIm5vaWZyYW1lIjpmYWxzZSwidHMiOjE1NDQyOTg1MTE3MTN9&page=4 The French East India Company]{{dead link|date=April 2024}}</ref> On 11 April, Necker replied on the charges made by Calonne. Two days later Louis XVI banished Necker by a ''[[lettre de cachet]]'' for his very public exchange of pamphlets.<ref name="Hardman1">{{Cite book |last=Hardman |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7EODAAAQBAJ |title=The Life of Louis XVI |date=2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300221657 |location=New Haven}}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2024}}<ref name="Fairweather">{{Cite book |last=Fairweather |first=Maria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7TCeBAAAQBAJ |title=Madame de Staël |date=2013 |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=978-1472113306}}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2024}}

After two months, Necker was allowed to return to Paris. Necker published his ''Nouveaux éclaircissement sur le compte rendu''. Also [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]] and his secretary Charles-Louis Ducrest came up with proposals.<ref name="Ducrest">{{Cite web|url=https://data.bnf.fr/fr/12531285/charles-louis_ducrest/|title=Charles-Louis Ducrest (1747–1824)}}</ref> The next minister of finance [[Loménie de Brienne]] resigned within fifteen months. On 24 August 1788; the king allowed him an enormous pension.

<!--Significant deficits through increased spending on the magnificent court in Versailles and costly, foreign policy failures let the debt grow from 67% to 100%.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} By August the state needed 240 million livres and France was effectively bankrupt.<ref name="McPhee">{{Cite book |last=McPhee |first=Peter |title=Liberty or Death: The French Revolution |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2006 |isbn=9780300189933 |location=New Haven |pages=46}}</ref>-->On 25 or 26 August, Necker was called back to office accompanied by fireworks. According to John Hardman, Marie-Antoinette helped to organise Necker's return to power. This time he insisted on the title of [[Controller-General of Finances]] and access to the [[Conseil du Roi|royal council]].{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|p=948}}<ref name="Fairweather" /><ref name="Britannica">{{Cite web |last=Goodwin |first=Albert |date=2024-04-05 |title=Jacques Necker |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jacques-Necker |website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>
Necker was appointed as [[Chief minister of France]]. <!--The revolution began here, according to J. Hardman--> He revoked the order of 16 August requiring bondholders to accept paper instead of money; government bonds rose 30% on the market.{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|p=949}}

On 7 September 1788, Paris was looking at famine, and Necker suspended the exportation of corn, purchased seventy million livres of wheat, and publicly reposted the decree of the King's Council of 23 April 1789 allowing police to inspect granaries and private inventories of grain, but none of these efforts could solve the problem.<ref name="Kropotkin2">{{cite book | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793 | chapter=Chapter 10 | author=Peter Kropotkin | year=1909 | translator=N. F. Dryhurst | quote=The distress in the city, however, increased from day to day. It is true that Necker had taken measures to avert the dangers of a famine. On September 7, 1788, he had suspended the exportation of corn, and he was protecting the importation by bounties; seventy million livres were expended in the purchase of foreign wheat. At the same time he gave widespread publicity to the decree of the King's Council of April 23, 1789, which empowered judges and officers of the police to visit private granaries to make an inventory of the grain, and in case of necessity to send the grain to market. But the carrying out of these orders was confided to the old authorities and-no more need be said! | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=222}}</ref> In 1788, insurrections broke out in Brittany, and Necker was sacked again. In a letter to [[Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau]], Marie-Antoinette took personal credit for forcing the king's hand on this matter. She believed that Necker would lessen the King's authority and wrote "the moment is pressing. It is very essential that Necker should accept."<ref name="Kropotkin3">{{cite book | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793 | chapter=Chapter 5 | author=Peter Kropotkin | year=1909 | translator=N. F. Dryhurst | quote=At Paris, after the dismissal of the Archbishop of Sens, there were numerous demonstrations. The Pont Neuf was guarded by troops, and several conflicts occurred between them and the people, of whom the leaders were, as Bertrand de Moleville remarks, 'those who later on took part in all the popular movements of the Revolution.' Marie-Antoinette's letter to the Count de Mercy should also be read in this connection. It is dated August 24, 1788, and in it she tells him of her fears, and announces the retirement of the Archbishop of Sens and the steps she had taken to recall Necker; the effect produced on the Court by those riotous crowds can therefore be understood. The Queen foresaw that this recall of Necker would lessen the King's authority; she feared "that they may be compelled to nominate a prime minister," but "the moment is pressing. It is very essential that Necker should accept." Source: J. Feuillet de Conches, Lettres de Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette et Madame Elisabeth (Paris, 1864), vol. i. pp. 214–216. | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=217}}</ref>

===Impact of the American Revolution===
One of the most significant fiscal issues Necker faced was the [[American Revolutionary War]] and the resulting debt. The war was popular with almost every Frenchman, except Necker.{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|p=870}} For the first time, the king waged a war without raising the taxes.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=23}} As France had financed its participation almost exclusively by [[municipal bonds]], Necker warned of the consequences for the French national budget as the war continued. (The war had cost the state already ca. 1.5 billion livres.) The [[Alexandre Marie Léonor de Saint-Mauris de Montbarrey|ministers of War]] and [[Antoine de Sartine|Navy]] were especially hostile towards him.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=24}}

In 1781, Congress appointed [[Robert Morris (financier)|Robert Morris]] as [[Superintendent of Finance of the United States|
Superintendent of Finance]] after the US went bankrupt. In 1783, Morris cut off interest payments to France, its largest foreign creditor. This led Necker to seek funds from elsewhere. [[Nicolaas van Staphorst]] told Necker that the entire French debt might be redeemed without any loss through the Amsterdam capital markets. The Van Staphorsts made an offer for the American bonds. Necker warmed to the proposal but asked for [[collateral (finance)|collateral]] and the sanction of a large investment bank. Necker decided that without collateral or the sanction of a major investment bank, the proposal was not acceptable.<ref name="Veru" />

[[Thomas Jefferson]], who had succeeded Franklin as American minister to France and [[John Adams]] as head of American finance in Europe in 1785, learned about the meeting between the [[Nicolaas van Staphorst|Van Staphorsts']] representatives and the French Minister of Finance only in November 1786, when he received a redacted document describing the Dutch offer from [[Étienne Clavière]], a Genevan banker and pro-America.<ref name="Veru">{{Cite journal |last=Veru |first=Peter Theodore |date=2021-07-15 |title=The French bonds: the little-known bidding war for France's holdings in American debt, 1786–1790 |journal=Financial History Review |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=259–280 |doi=10.1017/S096856502100010X |via=Cambridge University Press}}</ref>

The Dutch bankers advanced the treasury sufficient funds to forestall a crisis over the next year. The winter of 1788–89 was one of the bitterest in history. By the summer of 1789, the population suffered from famine. Necker intervened personally and successfully at the Amsterdam bank [[Hope & Co.]] to supply the 'King of France' with grain.<ref name="Buist">{{Cite book |last=Buist |first=Marten Gerbertus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbIjCQAAQBAJ |title=At Spes non Fracta: Hope & Co. 1770–1815 |date=2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9789401188586 |pages=46}}</ref>{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|p=156}} He used the 2.4 million livres in the royal treasury as a collateral.<ref name="Privatleben"/>{{rp|83}}

==The one non-noble minister==
[[File:France-Britain-Freedom-Slavery-Gillray.jpeg|300px|thumb|right|In this 1789 [[engraving]], [[James Gillray]] caricatures the triumph of Necker (seated, on left) in 1789, comparing its effects on freedom unfavorably to those of [[William Pitt the Younger]] in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]]. France has the caption "[[Free will|Freedom]]," while Britain has the caption "[[Slavery]]."]]

By the time of his second term in office, Necker desired a more limited monarchy and favored increased power for the [[Estates General (France)|Estates General]].<ref name="Hardman2">{{Cite book |last=Hardman |first=John |title=Overture to Revolution: The 1787 Assembly of Notables and the Crisis of France's Old Regime |date=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |pages=227 |chapter=Chapter 7: The Easter Crisis |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199585779.003.0008 |via=Oxford Academic}}</ref> According to [[Peter Kropotkin]], Necker "helped to shake down the system which was already tottering to its fall, but he was powerless to prevent the fall from becoming a revolution: probably he did not even perceive that it was impending."<ref name="Kropotkin4">{{cite book | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793 | chapter=Chapter 6 | author=Peter Kropotkin | year=1909 | translator=N. F. Dryhurst | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=218}}</ref>

Necker succeeded in doubling the representation of the [[Estates General (France)|Third Estate]] to satisfy the nation's people. The Third Estate had as many deputies as the other two orders together. His address at the Estates-General on 5 May 1789 about the fundamental problems as financial health, constitutional monarchy, and institutional and political reforms lasted three hours. Necker suffered from a cold and, after fifteen minutes, he asked the secretary of the Agricultural Society to read the remainder.<ref name="Lenotre">{{Cite book |last=Lenotre |first=G. |url=https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Robespierre_et_la_«_Mère_de_Dieu_»/1#cite_note-81 |title=Robespierre et la « Mère de Dieu » |publisher=Perrin et Cie |year=1926 |pages=36 |access-date=2024-04-22}}</ref> He invited the representatives to leave aside their factional interests and take into consideration the general, long-term interests of the nation. Personal rivalries and radical claims had to give way to a pragmatic spirit of moderation and conciliation.{{sfn|Craiutu|2012|pp=119–121}} He concluded: {{blockquote|"Finally, gentlemen, you will not be envious of what only time can achieve, and you will leave something for it to do. For if you attempt to reform everything that seems imperfect, your work will lead to poor results."{{sfn|Harris|1986|pp=433–434}}}} According to [[Simon Schama]], he "appeared to consider the Estates-General to be a facility designed to help the administration rather than to reform government".{{sfn|Schama|1989|pp=345–346}} Two weeks later, Necker seems to have sought to persuade the king to adopt a constitution similar to that of Great Britain and advised him in the strongest possible terms to make the necessary concessions before it was too late.{{sfn|Craiutu|2012|p=123}} According to [[François Mignet]], "he hoped to reduce the number of orders, and bring about the adoption of the English form of government, by uniting the clergy and nobility in one chamber, and the third estate in another."<ref name="Mignet">[http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/9602/pg9602-images.html History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 by M. Mignet]</ref> Necker warned the king that unless the privileged orders yielded, the States-General would collapse, taxes would not be paid, and the government would be bankrupt.{{sfn|Durant|Durant|1967|p=958}}

On 17 June 1789, the first act of the new [[National Assembly (French Revolution)|National Assembly]] declared all existing taxes illegal. Necker had legitimate reasons to be concerned about the implications of this unprecedented decision.{{sfn|Craiutu|2012|p=124}} On 23 June, the king proposed to the royal council the dissolution of the Assembly. On 11 July, the king advised Necker to leave the country immediately. According to [[Jean Luzac]], Necker and his wife went for a walk in a park. They then got into their carriage to drive to their estate in Saint-Ouen at seven in the evening.<ref name="Gazette1">Gazette de Leyde – Livraison n° 58 du 21 juillet 1789</ref> When the news became known the next day, it enraged [[Camille Desmoulins]]. Wax heads of Necker and the Duc d'Orléans were taken through the streets to the Tuileries. The Royal Guard allegedly chose to open fire rather than salute the likenesses.<ref name="Spies-Gans">{{Cite journal |last=Spies-Gans |first=Paris Amanda |date=2017 |title='The Fullest Imitation of Life': Reconsidering Marie Tussaud, Artist-Historian of the French Revolution |url=https://www.journal18.org/issue3/the-fullest-imitation-of-life-reconsidering-marie-tussaud-artist-historian-of-the-french-revolution/ |journal=Journal18 |issue=3|doi=10.30610/3.2017.8 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The threat of a counter-revolution caused citizens to take up arms and [[storming of the Bastille|storm the Bastille]] on 14 July.<ref name="Godechot">{{Cite book |last=Godechot |first=Jacques |url=https://archive.org/details/takingofbastille0000gode |title=The Taking of the Bastille: July 14th, 1789 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1970 |translator-last=Stewart |translator-first=Jean |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2024}} The king and the Assembly recalled the immensely popular Necker to a third ministry in a letter dated 16 July.<ref name="Necker1">{{Cite book |last=Necker |first=Jacques |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVwPAAAAQAAJ |title=De la Révolution française |publisher=Maret |year=1797 |volume=2 |location=Paris |pages=13 |language=French}}</ref> Necker replied from Basle on the 23rd.<ref name="Brief">{{Cite book |last=de Conches |first=Félix Feuillet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j1e4_5YV6VUC |title=Briefe und Urkunden von Ludwig XVI., Marie Antoinette und Madame Elisabeth: nach den Original-Handschriften |publisher=Rud. M. Rohrer |year=1864 |volume=1 |location=Brünn |pages=410 |language=German}}</ref> He wrote to his brother that he was going back to the abyss. His successor, the 74-year-old [[Joseph Foullon de Doué]], was hanged from a lamppost on the 22nd. His entry into Versailles on the 29th was a festival day.<ref name="Gazette2">Gazette de Leyde – Livraison n° 63 du 7 août 1789</ref> Necker demanded a pardon for [[Pierre Victor, baron de Besenval de Brünstatt|Baron de Besenval]], who was imprisoned after given command of the troops concentrated in and around Paris early July.<ref name="Blanc">{{Cite book |last=Blanc |first=Louis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bKo7AAAAMAAJ |title=History of the French Revolution of 1789 |publisher=Lea & Blanchard |year=1848 |volume=1 |location=Philadelphia |pages=568}}</ref>

On 4 August 1789, the day when [[Abolition of feudalism in France|feudalism was abolished]] by the National Assembly, Necker is quoted as saying, "The collectors of the taille are at their last shift."<ref name="Kropotkin5">{{cite book | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793 | chapter=Chapter 15 | author=Peter Kropotkin | year=1909 | translator=N. F. Dryhurst | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=227}}</ref>

===Assignats===
[[File:FRA-A39-Domaines Nationaux-100 livres (1790).jpg|300px|thumb|right|Early French banknote issue by Domaines Nationaux – Assignat for 100 livres, 1790 Issue]]

Necker proved to be powerless as tax revenue dropped quickly.<ref name="Mignet" /> Credit was wrecked, according to Talleyrand; for Mirabeau "the deficit was the treasure of the nation" as it had made many changes possible. By September, the treasury was empty.{{sfn|Crouzet|de Larosière|1993|pp=97–98}} According to Marat, the whole famine was the work of one man, accusing Necker of buying up all the corn on every side, in order that Paris had none.{{sfn|Michelet|1864|p=248}} Talleyrand proposed that "national goods" be given back to the nation.{{sfn|Crouzet|de Larosière|1993|p=101}} In November 1789, ecclesiastical possessions were confiscated by the state. Necker proposed to borrow from the [[Caisse d'Escompte#Central banking before the Bank of France|Caisse d'Escompte]], but his intention to change the private bank into a [[central bank|national bank]] similar to the Bank of England failed.{{sfn|Crouzet|de Larosière|1993|pp=104–105}}{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=64}} A general bankruptcy seemed certain.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=59}}<ref name="Spang">{{Cite book |last=Spang |first=Rebecca L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fY_uBQAAQBAJ |title=Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution |date=2015 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674745421 |location=Cambridge, Mass.}}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2024}} Mirabeau proposed to Lafayette to overthrow Necker.{{sfn|Michelet|1864|p=288}} On 21 December 1789, a first decree was voted through, ordering the issue (in April 1790) of 400 million ''[[assignats]]'', certificates of indebtedness of 1,000 livres each, with an interest rate of 5%, secured and repayable based on the auctioning of the "[[Biens nationaux]]".<ref name="Numiscorner">[https://www.numiscorner.com/blogs/news/the-french-revolution-the-assignats-and-the-counterfeiters The French Revolution, the Assignats, and the Counterfeiters]</ref> Once the assignats were paid, they had to be destroyed or burnt. <!--Feudal rights were confiscated in March.-->

In January 1790, Necker obtained an order of arrest against [[Jean-Paul Marat]], for having "had openly espoused the cause of the people, the poorest classes," according to Peter Kropotkin. Marat was forced to flee to London.<ref name="Kropotkin6">{{cite book | title=The Great French Revolution, 1789–1793 | chapter=Chapter 28 | first=Peter | last=Kropotkin | year=1909 | translator-first=N. F. | translator-last=Dryhurst | publisher=New York: Vanguard Printings | url=http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=240}}</ref><ref name="Walter">{{cite book|first=Gérard |last=Walter|title=Marat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxmH8MCZNnMC&pg=PT56|year= 2012|publisher=Albin Michel|isbn=978-2-226-26096-3|pages=56–59}}</ref> On 10 March 1790, on the proposition of [[Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve|Pétion]], the administration of the church property was transferred to the municipalities.{{sfn|Crouzet|de Larosière|1993|p=110}} At the same time, [[Étienne Clavière]] lobbied for large issues of assignats representing national wealth and operating as legal tender.<ref name="Whatmore">{{Cite journal |last=Whatmore |first=Richard |title=Commerce, Constitutions, and the Manners of a Nation: Etienne Clavière's Revolutionary Political Economy, 1788–1793 |journal=History of European Ideas |date=1996 |volume=22 |issue=5–6 |pages=351–368 |doi=10.1016/S0191-6599(96)00013-7 }}</ref>  For daily, life smaller denominations were needed and extended to the whole of France.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=95}} On 17 April 1790, the new notes of 200 and 300 livres were declared [[legal tender]] but their interest was reduced to 3%.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=xii}} The assignats would compensate for the scarcity of coin and would revive industry and trade.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|pp=80, 95}}

In May 1790, the feudal and ecclesiastical properties were sold against assignats. Constitutional monarchists such as [[Jean-Sifrein Maury|Maury]], [[Jacques Antoine Marie de Cazalès|Cazalès]], [[Nicolas Bergasse|Bergasse]] and [[Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil|d'Eprémesnil]] opposed it. The deputies in the Convention prepared a [[surety]] for future issues of paper money (on 19 June and 29 July).{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=76}} Half of the taxes over the preceding year were still not received. People who earned more than 400 livres were invited to go to their municipality and fulfill their duty. As it was not the final cure, Necker asked his friends, the Geneva "banquiers", to pay the [[arrears]] the Assembly turned it down.{{sfn|Crouzet|de Larosière|1993|p=99}} The political scene came to be dominated by "clamorous spectators, passionate judges, and ungovernable agitators".{{sfn|Craiutu|2012|p=130}} Necker was continuously attacked by [[Jean-Paul Marat]] in his pamphlets and by [[Jacques-René Hébert]] in his newspaper. [[Count Mirabeau]], who played a decisive role in the Assembly, accused him of complete financial dictatorship.{{sfn|Schama|1989|pp=499, 536}} For Mirabeau, to express doubts in the assignats was to express doubts in the revolution.<ref name="Levasseur">{{Cite journal |last=Levasseur |first=J. |date=1894 |title=The Assignats: A Study in the Finances of the French Revolution |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1819467 |journal=Journal of Political Economy |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=183 |jstor=1819467 }}</ref>

At the end of August, the government was again in distress; four months after the first issue the money was spent. [[François-Xavier-Marc-Antoine de Montesquiou-Fézensac|Montesquiou-Fézensac]], the teacher of Mirabeau, presented a report in the Assembly. Assignats should be used not only for payment of church property.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=77}}

[[François-Xavier-Marc-Antoine de Montesquiou-Fézensac|Montesquiou]] had massively exaggerated the amount of the redeemable debt, probably to convince the Assembly.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|p=78}} On 27 August 1790, the Assembly decided another issue of 1.9 billion assignats which would become [[legal tender]] before the end of the year. Necker endeavored to dissuade the Assembly from the proposed issue; suggesting that other means could be found for accomplishing the result, and he predicted terrible evils. Necker was not backed by Comte de Mirabeau, his strongest opponent who called for "national money" and won that day.<ref name="White">{{Cite news |last=White |first=A.D. |date=1878-08-02 |title=The Assignat |url=https://aadl.org/node/307527 |work=Michigan Argus}}</ref> A few crowds were sent to shout and threaten him.{{sfn|Michelet|1864|p=487}} When all resources were exhausted, the Assembly created paper money, according to Necker.{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|pp=84–85}} He handed in his resignation on 3 September.{{sfn|de Staël|1818|pp=256–258}} The massive and dangerous issue of 1.9 billion he succeeded to get down to 800 million, but the attacks influenced his resignation.{{sfn|Crouzet|de Larosière|1993|p=115}}<ref name="Necker3">[https://books.google.com/books?id=-41YAAAAcAAJ&q=assignats+&pg=PA17 Histoire de la révolution française: depuis l'Assemblée des notables ... by Jacques Necker, p. 35]</ref> Necker did not step down on the decision to make the assignat legal tender. Instead,the choice to issue the paper money along with political opposition proved to be his main motivators.<ref name="Martin">{{Cite book |last=Martin |first=Henri |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6536631q/f1n714.pdf?download=1 |title=Histoire de Révolution française de 1789 a 1799 |publisher=Jouvet et Cie |location=Paris |pages=214 |language=French |format=PDF |via=BNF}}</ref>

The Assembly decreed that it would itself direct the public Treasury.{{sfn|Michelet|1864|p=487}} Necker foretold that the paper money, with which the dividends were about to be paid, would soon be of no value. [[Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours|Du Pont de Nemours]] feared the emission of assignats would double the price of bread.<ref name="Dillaye">{{Cite book |last=Dillaye |first=Stephen Devalson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2FFDAAAAYAAJ |title=The Money and the Finances of the French Revolution of 1789: Assignats and Mandats : a True History : Including an Examination of Dr. Andrew D. White's "Paper Money Inflation in France" |publisher=Henry Carey Baird & Co. |year=1877 |location=Philadelphia |pages=18}}</ref>{{sfn|Aftalion|1990|pp=84–81}} Since no one had truly the right to make assignats, everyone would soon begin to do so.<ref name="Spang" />{{pn|date=April 2024}} [[François-Xavier-Marc-Antoine de Montesquiou-Fézensac|Montesquiou-Fézensac]], charged with the issue of assignats, feared [[stockjobbing]] and greed.<ref name="Montesquiou">{{Cite book |last=de Montesquiou-Fézensac |first=François-Xavier-Marc-Antoine |author-link=François-Xavier-Marc-Antoine de Montesquiou-Fézensac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fe-zSeIAwA4C |title=Opinion de M. de Montesquiou sur les assignats-monnoie |publisher=l'Assemblée Nationale |year=1790 |pages=3 |language=French}}</ref> A declaration (14 Oct) suspending all interest payments turned the assignats into [[fiat money]].<ref name="HET">{{Cite web |last=Fonseca |first=Gonçalo L. |title=Jacques Necker, 1732–1804 |url=https://www.hetwebsite.net/het/profiles/necker.htm |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=The History of Economic Thought}}</ref>

Necker's efforts to keep the financial situation afloat were ineffective. His popularity vanished and he resigned with a damaged reputation.{{sfn|Furet|Ozouf|1989|p=288}}<ref name="Doyle">{{Cite book |last=Doyle |first=William |title=The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780192853967}}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2024}} Necker left leaving two million livres in the public treasury; he took 1/5 of the amount with him.<ref name="Necker4">[https://books.google.com/books?id=-41YAAAAcAAJ&q=assignats+&pg=PA17 Histoire de la révolution française: depuis l'Assemblée des notables ... by Jacques Necker, p. 31]</ref>

==Retirement==
[[File:CH-NB - Coppet, Château de Coppet, vue partielle - Collection Max van Berchem - EAD-8736.tif|thumb|Château de Coppet]]

Necker, suspected of reactionary tendencies, traveled east to [[Arcis-sur-Aube]] and [[Vesoul]], where he was arrested, but on 11 September he was allowed to leave the country.<ref name="Necker5">[https://books.google.com/books?id=4MYxAQAAMAAJ&dq=Jacques+Necker+Arcis-sur-Aube&pg=PA373 Historical Review of the Administration of Mr. Necker by Jacques Necker, p. 373]</ref> At [[Coppet Castle]], he occupied himself with [[political economy]], and law. At the end of 1792, he published a brochure on the trial against Louis XVI. The Neckers were far from welcome in Geneva. Many of the French émigrés considered them [[Jacobins]], and many of the Swiss Jacobins thought them conservative.<ref name="Encyclopedists">{{Cite web |url=https://artflsrv03.uchicago.edu/philologic4/kafker/navigate/1/98/ |title=The Encyclopedists as individuals: a biographical dictionary of the authors of the Encyclopédie |access-date=30 November 2018 |archive-date=6 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006213453/https://artflsrv03.uchicago.edu/philologic4/kafker/navigate/1/98/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Initially living in [[Rolle]], the Neckers moved to an apartment in [[Beaulieu Castle]] following the installation of a revolutionary government in Geneva.<ref name="Gibbon">{{Cite book |last=Gibbon |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Gibbon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UJMUAAAAQAAJ |title=The Miscellanous Works of Edward Gibbon, Esq. With Memoirs of His Life and Writings |publisher=John Murray |year=1814 |editor-last=Sheffield |editor-first=John |volume=2 |location=London |pages=460, 483}}</ref> After being put on the list of [[Émigrés]], Necker was not paid any interest on the money he had left in the treasury.{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|pp=156–158}} His house in Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, his estate in [[Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Ouen sûr Seine]], and the two million livres were confiscated by the French government.{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|pp=162–163}} Mme Necker, who had always seen herself as ill, sank into mental illness. Since the birth of Germaine, she was correcting the most morbid clauses of her will and insisted to be embalmed by [[Samuel-Auguste Tissot]], preserved and exhibited in a bedroom for four months.<ref name="Baecque">{{Cite book |last=Baecque |first=Antoine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=myMn0SrSkioC |title=Glory and Terror: Seven Deaths Under the French Revolution |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136692086 |location=London |pages=194}}</ref> He continued to live under the care of his daughter. By 1794, France would be flooded by false assignats. But his time was past, and his books had except abroad no political influence.{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} In 1795 Germaine moved to Paris with [[Benjamin Constant]], but she came back, sometimes involuntary, and founded the [[Coppet group|Cercle de Coppet]].

In March 1798, [[Bern]] was attacked during the [[French invasion of Switzerland]]. Necker was treated with respect when the army passed his mansion. In July 1798, he was removed from the list of Émigrés.{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|p=169}}{{sfn|de Staël|1818|pp=418–420}} His house in the [[9th arrondissement of Paris]] was sold to (or occupied by?) the husband of [[Juliette Récamier]]. In early June 1800, Necker met with Napoleon on his way to [[Battle of Marengo|Marengo]]. In confidence, Napoleon told him about his plans to reestablish a monarchy in France. The publication of Necker's "Last Views on Politics and Finance" in 1802 upset the [[first consul]]. <!--According to Necker, there is no representative government without direct elections by the people, and that nothing can justify a deviation from this principle.--> He threatened to exile Madame de Staël from Paris because of this book.{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|p=169}}{{sfn|de Staël|1818|pp=35–36, 42, 459}} Although Necker had never been a republican before, toward the end of his life, he engaged seriously with the project of creating and consolidating a republic "one and indivisible" in France.{{sfn|Craiutu|2012|p=145}} Necker then foretold the suppression of the [[Tribunat]] as it took place under the [[French Consulate]]. His claim of two million on the state treasury was not recognized by the [[Sénat conservateur]].{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|p=177}}

Necker died in 1804. He was buried next to his wife in the garden of Coppet Castle. The mausoleum was sealed in 1817 following Germaine's death. The [[Charter of 1814]] signed by [[Louis XVIII]] at [[Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis|Saint-Ouen sûr Seine]] contained almost all the articles in support of liberty proposed by Necker before the Revolution of 14 July 1789.{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|p=169}}{{sfn|de Staël|1818|p=148}} Therefore, [[George Armstrong Kelly]] called him the "grandfather of Restoration Liberalism."<ref name="Kelly">{{cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=George A. |title=Liberalism and Aristocracy in the French Restoration |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |date=1965 |volume=26 |issue=4 |page=510 |doi=10.2307/2708497 |jstor=2708497}}</ref>

"Posterity has not been fair to Necker," according to Aurelian Craiutu.<ref name="Craiutu1" /> On 11 August 1792, the day after the [[Storming of the Tuileries]], all the busts were removed from the town hall, including the one of Necker by [[Jean-Antoine Houdon]] and smashed.<ref name="Poulet">{{Cite book |last=Poulet |first=Anne L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EV0BgrzV-fkC |title=Jean-Antoine Houdon: Sculptor of the Enlightenment |date=2003 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=9780226676470 |location=Chicago |pages=351}}</ref> Like Mirabeau, the [[Marquis De Lafayette]], [[Antoine Barnave|Barnave]] and [[Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve|Pétion]], Necker was only temporarily supported by the people.<ref name="Israel">{{Cite book |last=Israel |first=Jonathan |title=Revolutionary Ideas: An Intellectual History of the French Revolution from the Rights of Man to Robespierre |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=9780691151724}}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2024}}<ref name="Positive">{{Cite book |last=Necker |first=Jacques |url=https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/FrnchRev/id/147 |title=Principes positifs de M. Neker, extraits de tous ses ouvrages |year=1815 |language=French |trans-title=Positive principles of Mr. Neker, extracted from all his works |via=Ball State University Digital Media Repository}}</ref>{{pn|date=April 2024}}

==Personal life==

In 1786 Necker's daughter [[Germaine de Staël|Germaine]] married [[Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein]]; she was to become a prominent figure in her own right and a leading opponent of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]. On 22 March 1814, she was promised 21 years of interest on her father's investment in the public treasury.{{sfn|d'Haussonville|2004|pp=195, 205}} After his death his daughter published "Vie privée de Mr. Necker". His grandson Auguste de Staël (1790–1827) edited the Complete Oeuvres by Jacques Necker.

His nephew Jacques Necker (1757–1825), a botanist, married [[Albertine Necker de Saussure]]. They took care of their uncle after his wife had died in 1794. Their son was the geologist and [[crystallography|crystallographer]] [[Louis Albert Necker]] de Saussure.

==Places named after Jacques Necker==
* [[Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital|Necker Hospital for Children (Paris, France)]]
* [[Necker Island (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands)]]
* Necker middle school (Coppet, Switzerland)

==Works==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=eQFDAAAAcAAJ ''Réponse au mémoire de M. l'abbé Morellet sur la Compagnie des Indes''], 1769
* [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125010717532/page/n7/mode/2up ''Éloge de Jean-Baptiste Colbert''], 1773
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=2pxaAAAAcAAJ ''Sur la Législation et le commerce des grains''], 1775
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=TPheFvXvZpIC ''Mémoire au roi sur l'établissement des administrations provinciales''], 1776
* [https://archive.org/details/ldpd_6450091_000/page/2/mode/2up ''Lettre au roi''], 1777
* ''[[Compte rendu au roi]]'', 1781
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=dmVeAAAAcAAJ ''De l'administration des finances de la France''. Tome I]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=imVeAAAAcAAJ Tome II]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=qmNeAAAAcAAJ Tome III], 1784, 3 vol. in-8°
* [https://books.google.nl/books?id=AqM9YpAxzQgC&pg=PA10&dq#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Correspondance de M. Necker avec M. de Calonne. (29 janvier-28 février 1787)''], 1787
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=YaRaAAAAcAAJ ''Sur le compte rendu au Roi en 1781. Nouveaux éclaircissements'']. A Paris, Hotel de Thou, 1788
* [https://archive.org/details/delamorale00unse ''De la Morale naturelle, suivie du Bonheur des sots''], 1788
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=sVlaAAAAcAAJ ''De l'importance des opinions religieuses''], 1788
* [https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_supplement-ncessaire-_1788/mode/2up ''Supplément nécessaire à l'importance des opinions religieuses''], 1788
*   [https://books.google.com/books?id=v40M4pGWfBoC&dq=Nouveaux+eclaircissement+sur+le+compte+rendu&pg=PA210 ''Sur le compte rendu au roi en 1781 : nouveaux éclaircissements'', 1788]
* ''Rapport fait au roi dans son conseil par le ministre des finances'', 1789
* [https://archive.org/details/derniersconseils00unse ''Derniers conseils au roi''], 1789
* ''Hommage de M. Necker à la nation française'', 1789
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wy9aAAAAcAAJ ''Observations sur l'avant-propos du « Livre rouge »''], v. 1790
* ''Opinion relativement au décret de l'Assemblée nationale, concernant les titres, les noms et les armoiries'', v. 1790
*   [https://archive.org/details/surladministrat00neckgoog ''Sur l'administration de M. Necker'', 1791]
* ''Réflexions présentées à la nation française sur le procès intenté à Louis XVI'', 1792
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=QlpeAAAAcAAJ ''Du pouvoir exécutif dans les grands états''. Tome premier]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=VFpeAAAAcAAJ Tome second], 1792.
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=3odbAAAAcAAJ ''De la Révolution Françoise''. Tome premier]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=6odbAAAAcAAJ Tome second]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=-YdbAAAAcAAJ Tome troisieme]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=C4hbAAAAcAAJ Tome quatrieme], 1796
* [https://archive.org/details/coursdemoralerel01neckuoft/page/n5/mode/2up ''Cours de morale religieuse''. Tome premier]; [https://archive.org/details/coursdemoralerel02neckuoft/page/n5/mode/2up Tome deuxième]; [https://archive.org/details/coursdemoralerel03neckuoft/page/n5/mode/2up Tome troisième], 1800
* ''Dernières vues de politique et de finance, offertes à la Nation française'', 1802
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=tchPAAAAcAAJ&dq=Manuscrits+de+M.+Necker%2C+publi%C3%A9s+par+sa+fille&pg=PP9 ''Manuscrits de M. Necker, publiés par sa fille'' (1804)]
* [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde14neckgoog/page/n13/mode/2up ''Œuvres complètes de M. Necker''. Tome premier]; [https://books.google.com/books?id=_OukvZqSWl0C Tome second]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde12neckgoog/page/n8/mode/2up Tome troisième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde07neckgoog/page/n11/mode/2up Tome quatrième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde06neckgoog/page/n9/mode/2up Tome cinquième];  [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde04neckgoog/page/n9/mode/2up Tome sixième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde10neckgoog/page/n9/mode/2up Tome septième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde01neckgoog/page/n9/mode/2up Tome huitième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde02neckgoog/page/n11/mode/2up Tome neuvième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde15neckgoog/page/n9/mode/2up Tome dixième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde05neckgoog/page/n9/mode/2up Tome onzième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde03neckgoog/page/n7/mode/2up Tome douzième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde11neckgoog/page/n9/mode/2up Tome treizième]; [https://archive.org/details/uvrescompltesde09neckgoog/page/n7/mode/2up Tome quizième]. Publiées par m. le Baron de Staël. 1820–1821
* ''Histoire de la Révolution française, depuis l'Assemblée des notables jusques et y compris la journée du 13 vendémiaire an IV (18 octobre 1795)'', 1821

Source:<ref name="BNF">{{cite web |url=https://data.bnf.fr/fr/documents-by-rdt/12058082/te/page1 |title=Jacques Necker (1732–1804) – Œuvres textuelles de cet auteur |website=Bibliothèque nationale de France}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
===Primary sources===
* {{Cite book |title=Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution |last=de Staël |first=Germaine |publisher=Braddock, Cradock, and Joy |year=1818 |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pvANAAAAQAAJ |author-link=Germaine de Staël}}

===Secondary sources===
* {{Cite book |title=The French Revolution: An Economic Interpretation |last=Aftalion |first=Florin |date=1990 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521368100 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dQWXXIcNI2oC}}
* {{Cite book |last=Carlyle |first=Thomas |title=[[Critical and Miscellaneous Essays|Critical and Miscellaneous Essays: Volume V]] |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |series=The Works of Thomas Carlyle in Thirty Volumes |volume=XXX |location=New York |publication-date=1904 |pages=87–99 |chapter=Necker |year=1903 |author-link=Thomas Carlyle |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/worksofthomascar030carl/page/86/mode/2up}}
* {{Cite book |title=A Virtue for Courageous Minds: Moderation in French Political Thought, 1748–1830 |last=Craiutu |first=Aurelian |date=2012 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691146768}}
* {{Cite book |title=Rousseau and Revolution |last1=Durant |first1=Will |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1967 |last2=Durant |first2=Ariel |series=The Story of Civilization |volume=10 |oclc=778922010}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Furet |first1=François |author-link=François Furet |title=A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution |last2=Ozouf |first2=Mona |publisher=Belknap Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780674177284 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |pages=287–297 |translator-last=Goldhammer |translator-first=Arthur}}
* {{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Robert D |title=Necker and the Revolution of 1789 |publisher=University Press of America |year=1986 |isbn=9780819156020 |location=Lanham, Md.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lefebvre |first=Georges |author-link=Georges Lefebvre |title=The French Revolution: From its Origins to 1793 |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=9780415255479 |orig-date=1962}}
* {{Cite book |title=Historical View of the French Revolution: From Its Earliest Indications to the Flight of the King in 1791 |last=Michelet |first=Jules |publisher=H.G. Bohn |year=1864 |location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j__G29EYEDkC |author-link=Jules Michelet}}
* {{Cite book |last=Schama |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Schama |title=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution |title-link=Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=1989 |isbn=9780394559483}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Swanson |first1=Donald F |last2=Trout |first2=Andrew P |date=1990 |title=Alexander Hamilton, the Celebrated Mr. Neckar,' and Public Credit |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2938096 |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=422–430 |doi=10.2307/2938096 |jstor=2938096 |url-access=subscription }}

;In French
* {{in lang|fr}} Bredin, Jean-Denis. ''Une singulière famille: Jacques Necker, Suzanne Necker et Germaine de Staël.'' Paris: Fayard, 1999 ({{ISBN|2-213-60280-8}}).
* {{Cite book |title=La grande inflation : la monnaie en France de Louis XVI à Napoléon |last1=Crouzet |first1=François |publisher=Fayard |year=1993 |location=Paris |language=French |last2=de Larosière |first2=Jacques |isbn=9782213029948}}
* {{Cite journal |title=La liquidation du 'dépôt' de Necker: 1778–1815 |journal=Cahiers Staëlians |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9766891m/f1n300.pdf?download=1 |last=d'Haussonville |first=Othénin |volume=55 |pages=154–106 |via=BNF |year=2004 |language=French |format=PDF}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Jacques Necker}}
* {{cite EB1911|wstitle=Necker, Jacques |volume=19 |short=x}}
* [https://archive.today/20020417002235/http://www.cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/necker.htm Jacques Necker]. Bibliography of Necker's publications.
* [http://dmr.bsu.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/FrnchRev&CISOPTR=147&REC=6 Full text of ''Principes positifs de M. Neker'' ... ''Positive principles of Mr. Neker, extracted from all his works'']

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Necker, Jacques}}
[[Category:1732 births]]
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[[Category:University of Geneva alumni]]
[[Category:18th-century businesspeople from the Republic of Geneva]]
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[[Category:Bankers from the Republic of Geneva]]
[[Category:Finance ministers of France]]
[[Category:Secretaries of State of Ancien Régime France]]
[[Category:People of the French Revolution]]
[[Category:Coppet group]]
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